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By V.J. Smith

A few weeks ago I wrote about cholesterol. I picked on the dairy industry and this upset the cow people. Not that these people have horns protruding from their heads and big black splotches all over their bodies, they just own cows. Anyway, I was told that genetics had the most to do with cholesterol level, and with this I agree. Besides, it's nice to blame your parents for one more thing in life.

As I wrote that column I started to think about other food we consumed while growing up in Eureka. I'm not sure, but I think we were the first group to try TV dinners. They were pathetic but we thought we were hot stuff sitting in front of a black and white television and consuming flat tasting mush. I'm not so sure we wouldn't have been better off eating the boxes they came in as the pictures looked much more appetizing than the product.

How about hamburgers from the Silver Keg? I've consumed a thousand hamburgers since leaving Eureka and not one has tasted as good as the ones Stumpy made. What was his secret?

The only other hamburgers that came close were the ones from the Eureka baseball park. The closer you got to the concession stand the more that wonderful aroma grabbed your attention. And if the wind was just right you could smell them in centerfield!

A cousin to the hamburger is the hot dog. I know one comes from the cow and the other from a pig. But as far as a kid's appetite is concerned the two are related. Anyway, the best hot dogs I ever ate came from the school cafeteria. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Don't you remember walking through the gymnasium on the way to the school lunchroom and the smell just consumed you? I noticed a change in everyone's behavior. The best part, other than their taste, was that we got to eat two of them.

Back to the lunchroom. It was in that much-maligned place that I learned to put ketchup on my grilled cheese sandwich. We didn't do that at our house so it was a leap of faith to try it. I can't imagine eating a grilled cheese sandwich now without the ketchup.

On to another food ... popcorn. The Lyric Theater made great tasting popcorn. I'm sure the butter would kill most people now but wasn't it marvelous? I can still hear that popcorn machine popping and can still see the popped corn bursting out of the metal popper unit at the top of the machine.

The popcorn at the Lyric got my attention but so did the Serr's little popcorn stand on Main Street. Every Saturday night during the summer the Serr boys (Tim and Steve) would pop their corn and sell it to the hungry faithful. That popcorn stand served a valuable function for many people. So many people used to sit in their cars on Main Street and just watch who was walking up and down the streets. The popcorn stand satisfied any hunger pangs these people got while watching other people.

You can't write about popcorn and not mention sunflower seeds. The main source of these products was Elmer's. Most people bought them in brown paper bags stapled at the top. If you stayed at Elmer's you could buy the seeds by the scoop. You would say, "Hey Elmer, can I get a scoop of seeds?" He would take a metal scoop and dip it into his stash. Within moments he would deposit the entire contents of the scoop on the bar in front of you.

Then, you would proceed to chew on the seeds and spit the shells on the floor. It was always a treat to walk across the floor, crunching heard with every step.

A few years ago I talked with a man who used to work in the agriculture department at South Dakota State. He said he would visit with farmers in Eureka. More specifically, he would go to the sales barn in Eureka and give talks on animal nutrition.

This man told me that every farmer in the audience would be chewing on sunflower seeds and their mouths would be filled to capacity. Still, they were able to spit the shells from both sides of their mouths. "V.J.," this man said, "there were times I looked into the audience and thought I was talking to a convention of squirrels."

(V.J. Smith grew up in Eureka with seven brothers and sisters and graduated from Eureka High School in 1973. A graduate of SDSU, he is now the university's director of alumni.)

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